In recent years, the Internet has become a popular mechanism for performing activities such as purchasing goods and services, media sharing, commentary, and keeping in contact with friends and associates. In particular, social networking resources have enjoyed relatively rapid growth, as users have become comfortable sharing information electronically. In the future, it is anticipated that these trends will continue to accelerate as more users migrate to the use of computer network resources and network resource offerings expand.
While the growing number of network resource offerings presents new opportunities, it is not without problems. With a small number of network resources, e.g., websites, available, a user may be aware of a significant fraction of the electronic content or services available therefrom that is of interest. However, with the very large number of network resources presently available (and growing) for browsing, it is very difficult for a user to identify more than a relatively small fraction of the electronic content and/or services of interest, despite active searching.
Furthermore, while acquiring network contacts is relatively easy, maintaining meaningful interactions and sharing information with these contacts is more challenging. In one aspect, contacts may sporadically check for messages or other information provided from a user. Alternatively, content a user desires to share with their contacts may not be of interest to the contact, resulting in the user's communications being ignored. As a result, contacts may be lost for lack of maintaining an interaction of mutual interest.